PeteF3

Kimberly's a lot hotter when she's not talking.

Put me with Childs on this. Well, I guess I didn't "viscerally hate" it, but I sure didn't give much of a fuck about it, either. This is, like, the 50th most intense joshi brawl I've watched on these Yearbooks, and even though I've made this remark for every AJW match for the past 2 Yearbooks the lack of crowd heat is astounding. I'm also--yet again--letting real life take over my views on the match, as I'm reading along in the Observers how badly AJW is falling apart at this point, to an even greater degree than late-'90s WCW. LCO had given their notice and with a bunch of other workers leaving as a result of not getting paid (the Matsunagas' real estate investments had done even more damage than AJW's falling business), the company was left with a roster of 11 (!) people. The 1995 Smoky Mountain/2001 WCW vibe is palpable here. The actual work itself is pretty aimless for 3/4 before picking up towards the end--yeah, no question that finish was one for the ages, but the journey there simply didn't make this a worthwhile investment. It's interesting to note that about the only things that *do* get a reaction here are wrestling moves.

Yeah, this has good action but it's almost impossible to view as an actual angle/long-term booking instead of an outright political hit. Just like the Horsemen/NWO stuff in North Carolina, it would work great as theater if this led to *anything*, but it has the same flaws that can't be ignored. No Hart Foundation until it's too late, palpable bullshit surrounding everything, and with hindsight we know there's no payoff or redemption coming either. Shawn throwing Davey Boy's knee brace at Diana would be fantastic heeling, but it comes off more as Mike Hickenbottom being a dick rather than Shawn Michaels. I am somewhat amused by the implication in the video package and post-match that Diana's accusations from 1996 were actually correct. Edit: Also, the interference was overbooked to the point where it's almost impossible for anyone to cover for, but man oh man is Earl Hebner an awful official. Tommy Young and even his brother Dave had the ability to seemingly just miss interference, while Earl practically makes a show of turning his back on obvious bullshit. Another thing that overwhelms the match and makes evaluating the work just about impossible.

Best ZombieTaker match ever? I guess we'll find out in a couple of weeks. Some great builds and payoffs and then payoffs to payoffs here, particularly centering around the exposed turnbuckle. Bret takes his chest-first bump into it which is sold and put over huge as a major turning point, then later he tries to dodge it on an Irish whip and ends up sliding back-first into the bottom of the ring post. He and UT also do some great work centering around Undertaker's legs, which are a recurring counter-spot that Bret goes to several times during the match when he appears beaten. And Undertaker even resurrects (ha) the ol' Mean Mark heart punch. Some hot near-falls, some great mixed crowd reactions...the non-finish is "eh" but you do buy Undertaker as a guy being pushed to the breaking point between the Shawn feud and the lingering presence of Kane (who isn't mentioned at all, oddly enough). Both guys worked hard here but this is a real triumph for Bret if he's the one who laid this out, as I suspect he did.

A very good match, probably Owen's last really good one, at least a straight wrestling match. Owen has lots of good hit-and-run offense that Vader sells tremendously, particularly his wobbly and awkward fall after getting enzuigiri'd. And the bodyslam was a cool moment. And of course Vader continues, even at this late stage, to be one of the best cut-off heels you'll ever see in wrestling. Cool offense, good heat, strong psychology with everything making sense--it's not going to be on any Match of the Year lists but for an upper-midcard PPV bout you can't ask for much more.

Very NXT-esque video package, complete with a little bit of kayfabe-breaking, "we're setting out to have a great match."

I'm pretty sure that if my GWE rankings went deep enough, I'd rank Bill Alfonso ahead of RVD. In fact, I don't think I'd even have to think that hard about it. The man has a better grasp of fundamentals and psychology than RVD ever did--and he was absolutely game here, bleeding a sick gusher, taking some wild bumps, and even unleashing some High-End Offense. This is at least twice now that he's had a match with a fellow non-wrestler that's about 907 times better than it had any right to be, but Beulah is a better worker and more over than Tod Gordon. Legitimately one of the more enjoyable ECW segments of the year, and I'm not entirely sure this isn't the best match of '97 for the promotion. Dream match that I never knew I wanted until now: Bill Alfonso vs. Mark Curtis.

I'm just not buying Sabu and RVD as quasi-unstoppable monster dominant heels, and the WWF stuff is played out. The babyfaces actually get a comeback this time, at least.

Looks like the brace says "ECW SUX / WCW SABU NITRO." I guess they're equal-opportunity Big Two supporters. Alfonso rants about Sabu vs. Sandman at the upcoming Arena show until RVD encourages him to chill, dude. Tension seems to be building between Van Dam and Sabu.

The future Crash Holly is doing a full-blown leprechaun gimmick--"Natural One" may be '90s-centric but it beats the Lucky Charms commercial music that O'Grady was coming out to. O'Grady being announced as "17.777 stone", which is about 250 pounds, is a little on the high side though it won't be the last time he'll have a super-exaggerated weight attached to him. As for Modest, he clearly showed talent but on a purely superficial level I don't see how his look at this point was going to get him a push in the Big Two as some people seemed to think was inevitable. With his thinning bleach-blond hair he looked pure '50s even if his entrance was pure '90s. Formalities aside, this was an enjoyable little bout, with O'Grady showing some cool offense and both guys showing some fantastic execution. They started off hot but toned it down afterward before building to big bombs, instead of going with the all-out spotfest I was expecting. Finish is a little wonky and right out of Flair and Windham at Beach Blast '93, but O'Grady's twisting leg scissors were cool as hell. Some guy comes in and power bombs both guys afterward. Not a *great* match, mostly due to O'Grady's total lack of long-term selling (going from being suplexed like a jobber opponent for Taz to coming back in like .5 seconds), but definitely the best of the indy matches on the '97 set.

Definitely a MOTYC and maybe a winner in other years. It won't win this year, as 1/20/97 set a bar that was awfully high. But it feels wholly unique in a good way for lucha, from the stips to the aggressiveness and shooty vibe of the matwork, to the unconventional but logical finish. A big turning point is Santo pulling himself up out of a tree of woe and Casas missing a dropkick and going to the floor--in the very same motion of pulling himself up, Santo stands up on the turnbuckle and dives off with a graceful and high-impact plancha. It's one of the most beautiful transition spots you'll ever see, which stands out even more in a match that was so gritty, and a reminder of why Santo is who he is.

Yeah, this blew. Hennig tries but just doesn't have it anymore--even his trademark get-thrown-by-the-hair-and-slide-into-the-post bump just looks bad. The Hennig of 1991 may have been able to drag a decent match out of Mongo, but it's 6 years too late for that now.

The long entrances alone are an example of how overindulgent the NWO was getting at this point. Hennig cuts a terrible promo, Hogan cuts one of his weakest since turning heel, and all of a sudden I simply do not care about any of this. Even rehashing DDP vs. Savage feels tired.

We got that one in Columbus too, though the ostensible selling point was Mr. T as the guest referee. We also had Honky Tonk Man defending the IC title against Steamboat with Jimmy Hart suspended above the ring in a cage, which was an acceptable B-show main event.

I also wonder if CanCon had anything to do with it. The syndicated shows in Canada had Maple Leaf Garden or sometimes Copps Coliseum content added in, as well as Canada-centric local promos and Event Centers, to conform to Canadian content regulations. It may have been taped for that reason. I'll take this card from 5/22/94 in Columbus against this London card or any other (and ignore thehistoryofwwe for this--the results are wrong): - Duke Droese, who had just debuted, vs. some guy (Graham says Dave Heath and it may well have been) - Koko B. Ware (?) vs. John Paul (?!), who was subbing for the Genius (??!!). Paul even got the "Girls in Cars" entrance despite being the ostensible heel. - The Smoking Gunns vs. The Bushwhackers (yeah, make sense of that one) - 1-2-3 Kid vs. Bastion Booger (who hadn't been on TV in 6 months) - Maybe another match or two I can't remember. Tatanka vs. Crush was advertised but may or may not have taken place. - Main event: Yokozuna vs. Typhoon, who was a surprise sub for the departed Earthquake. Just dire, and possibly the WWF at its lowest point ever.

Yeah, no way do decades work like centuries. When someone says the "1980s," they mean "years that go 198X."

I actually thought Schiavone's reaction to the Hennig turn was over-the-top at Fall Brawl, but I remember this being great at the time and it still is. Not really enough to justify the stupid Hennig turn, but pretty great. Tony is definitely neck-and-neck with JR for Announcer of the Year honors, and I don't know where I'm going to go.

Michaels announces his intentions to be the WWF's first Grand Slam champion, and yeah, even before UT shows up, this promo is clearly edited. Of course this was the first taped Raw after months of being live every week, so maybe that was just the nature of the beast. What is WITH wrestlers across multiple companies constantly saying "powers to be"?

I'm glad to see some Austin-Hart Foundation interaction again. Makes the Harts feel a little less marginalized. Lawler was pretty funny here, shamelessly kissing up to Austin only for it to end predictably--and the Stunner out of Lawler trying to read over his shoulder was well-done and added a bit of surprise to a result you could see coming.

This is an instance where the booking and the politics overwhelm things to such a degree that I just can't get into this. Syxx and Benoit were good in this environment, but this was a piss-poor follow-up to the parody angle (that I still like in a vacuum), but this is just another excuse to make the Horsemen look like idiots and doing it in North Carolina to boot. Hennig is a guy that I'm just completely over in '97 no matter what role he's playing. I will disagree with Loss and Childs when they wonder why they would book this--I think it's pretty clear why this was booked this way.

Yeah, this was fun and effective. Larry was way over and the build to his involvement over the previous few weeks and months was well-done. And Schiavone's explanation of the fall counting worked for me--it was about time WCW did something underhanded to fight back.

This is the hardest I've laughed at Benoit since '07. He cuts a promo like he's completely unaware that Hennig has supposedly been jumped, and, "We all know what the Buff is about?" WTF does that mean? In another universe the line about all of Nash's past identities would be cutting, but he was already sunk before he got to that point. Mongo was always an effective promo, though. Flair, naturally, has the best response to this attack and to hyping the match.

Konnan's forced frown is funny--like a Latino Mr. Hughes. I will say that putting Buff in this is actually a smart move as he's someone you'd expect might be ripe to take a submission loss.

Curt's selling isn't that good...I mean, in hindsight it wasn't SUPPOSED to look good, but...I have a headache.

I was underwhelmed by this--and that's too bad because I was really looking forward to see what Alex could do with some time in a PPV setting, and I don't hate Ultimo like I did the pre-'96 version. But this really suffers in direct comparison to the Eddie/Chris match we just saw (I know on the PPV there was a Steiners/Heat match breaking things up). The matwork just isn't as snug and while Wright definitely carries himself like a wrestler beyond his years, he resorts more to generic chinlocks instead of the focused and creative holds that the cruisers were using. Ultimo has a few nice high spots but also blows some stuff, as does Alex--I'm okay with sloppiness if it's a heated brawl, but with two guys who are supposed to be graceful flyers it stands out more. The closing stretch is better and I really like how Alex sold the danger of the dragon sleeper. But in the end, Keith's "too long" criticism is warranted even if his star rating isn't.